Crested treeswift

Hemiprocne coronata

Common name:

crested treeswift (en); andorinhão-arborícola-de-crista (pt); hémiprocné couronné (fr); vencejo arborícola coronado (es); kronenbaumsegler (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Apodiformes

Family Hemiprocnidae

Range:

This Asian species is found from eastern India and Sri Lanka, through southern Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, and into southern China, northern and western Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Size:

These birds are 23 cm long and weigh 20-26 g.

Habitat:

Crested treeswifts forage widely over forested and open woodland areas, preferring forest openings and edges and river edges where the bare twigs of emergent trees provide suitable perches from which to make their dashing foraging flights. they are mostly found in lowlands up to an altitude of 1.000 m.

Diet:

These birds feed most actively at dawn and dusk when loose flocks dash about at high speed hunting a wide array of flying insects and eventually some spiders which are caught in flight.

Breeding:

Crested treeswifts breed in March-June. They build a tiny nest which is glued to an exposed tree branch. there the female lays 1 blue-grey egg which is incubated by both sexes for 21-26 days. The chicks are brooded and fed by both parents, but females seem to spend more time in these activities. The chicks fledge about 25 days after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status – LC (Least concern)

This species has a very large breeding range and, although the global population size has not been quantified, the species is reported to be relatively common. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.